


who do you think you are? (our best friend)

by kersenvla



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Chatting & Messaging, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Hwang Hyunjin & Kim Seungmin are Best Friends, Hwang Hyunjin & Yang Jeongin | I.N are Best Friends, Hwang Hyunjin is Whipped, Kim Seungmin & Yang Jeongin | I.N are Best Friends, Kim Seungmin is Whipped, M/M, Platonic Relationships, Prom, Sort Of, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Yang Jeongin | I.N-centric, a lot of thinking about their times together as best friends :), and also a little more, and they love each other, but also plot dont worry, edit : added a second chapter of more fluff and ot8 and seungjinin and a dash of chansung!, friendship!!, hints to jeongin being aromantic, if you squint theres also chansung, it is focused around seungjinin friendship with a dash of seungjin romance, lots of backstory for haha, lower case intentional, they are all sweethearts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:40:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27712841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kersenvla/pseuds/kersenvla
Summary: jeongin helps his two best friends hyunjin and seungmin with asking each other out to the end of the year / graduation party of their school, but he starts to feel a little left out as he sees how happy they are, having a date for the party, while he has no one to go with.or: just seungjinin fluff and friendship!edit: added a second chapter which takes place a little before and at the party! featuring more seungjinin fluff and humor and some bonus ot8 and chansung
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin & Kim Seungmin & Yang Jeongin | I.N, Hwang Hyunjin & Yang Jeongin | I.N, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Kim Seungmin & Yang Jeongin | I.N, minor Bang Chan/Han Jisung | Han - Relationship
Comments: 23
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello guys this is just a little story around the seungjinin friendship, because i think friendship is amazing :). you can interpret jeongin as aromantic or not, do as you please. (i am aromantic, but everyone's experience is different, maybe some alloromantics can relate too ^^)
> 
> enjooyyy!

**hyunie + innie**

**hyunie :** oh my god im so nervous innie idk if i can do this

**innie :** you CAN do this hyunie!!

 **innie :** i believe in you

 **innie :** what can go wrong?

**hyunie :** a lot

 **hyunie :** for example

 **hyunie :** he hates everything about my way of asking him to the party

**innie :** jin

 **innie :** seriously

 **innie :** when has seungmin ever hated Anything you did

 **innie :** it’ll be fine because its you and its him

**hyunie :** are u sure…? 👉👈

**innie :** yes!

 **innie :** just be urself

 **innie :** i wouldnt say anything if i wasnt

 **innie :** u guys are my best friends and i want u two to be happy

**hyunie :** innie ilysm… <333

 **hyunie :** thank you

**innie :** okay so r u going to ask him tomorrow?

**hyunie :** yeah i think so

 **hyunie :** youll come with me right?

**innie :** of course

 **innie :** im gonna make sure you actually go through with it!!

**hyunie :** heheh

 **hyunie :** thank u <3

  
  


jeongin shook his head to himself. his friends could be useless sometimes, but he guessed it was kind of nerve-wrecking, asking your best friend out for the end-of-year slash graduation party of high school. 

not that jeongin could relate. he wasn’t planning on asking anyone out, he was way too busy with helping his two best friends ask _each other_ out. yes, _two._ and _each other_.

speaking of which, he had another friend to encourage.

  
  


**minnie + innie**

**minnie :** jeongin

**innie :** yes?

**minnie :** i may need your help with something… 😶

**innie :** is it about asking hyunjin for the end of year party?

**minnie :** perhaps…

**innie :** minnie ily but pls just tell me whats going on

**minnie :** fine

 **minnie :** look

 **minnie :** you know i was planning on asking hyunjin to go with me

**innie :** yes i think basically the whole school knows that

**minnie :** im serious!!!

**innie :** who says that IM not serious!

**minnie :** whatever

 **minnie :** our friend group is not the whole school!

 **minnie :** anyway

 **minnie :** im starting to think just asking him is not romantic enough

 **minnie :** you know how hyunjin likes sappy things

 **minnie :** maybe i should plan something, like, more grand or something

**innie :** this late?

 **innie :** minnie u dont have a lot of time left

 **innie :** just be urself

**minnie :** …

 **minnie :** but what if thats not enough

**innie :** do u really think hyunjin thinks u are not enough?

**minnie :** maybe not as a date…

**innie :** but i also think he wouldnt want u to stress urself out over asking him out

 **innie :** he’ll understand

**minnie :** right

 **minnie :** you are right

 **minnie :** i shouldnt underestimate hyunjins kindness!!

**innie :** (pls also dont underestimate your own value)

 **innie :** so are you going to ask him tomorrow?

**minnie :** yes

 **minnie :** i can do it

 **minnie :** this is my last chance to ask him out for the party

**innie :** thats the spirit!!

 **innie :** good luck minnie

 **innie :** i hope he says yes ;)

**minnie :** thanks in

 **minnie :** i appreciate it :)

  
 **innie :** no problemo amigo!

jeongin locked his phone with a satisfied smile on his face. _mission accomplished._ at least, he hoped so. his friends could be stubborn and _dense_ (especially very dense) when it came to their feelings for each other. 

jeongin had been friends with seungmin and hyunjin ever since he could remember and ever since somewhere in high school they finally accepted that they were just inseparable. the three of them were part of a bigger friend group consisting mostly of the same eight people since a long time ago too, and they all got along really well, but jeongin just felt most at home with seungmin and hyunjin.

they told each other everything and have had countless sleepovers with the three of them. jeongin was positive that seungmin and hyunjin knew him better than he knew himself by now, just like he felt like he knew them better than he knew himself. 

he remembered when hyunjin got his first crush when he was, like, twelve and he and seungmin were teasing him endlessly about it, but they also helped him get the courage needed to ask his crush out, only to be consoled again by them when they had broken up. 

looking back at it now, the three of them laughed about it and hyunjin was ashamed of how hard he cried when it was over, because he was so young and it wasn’t even a serious crush, but at the time it seemed like it was serious and seungmin and jeongin knew that hyunjin really was upset, despite everything.

the three of them had also witnessed each other grow up, go through puberty, grow pretty tall, in the case of hyunjin and seungmin, and grow really _handsome_ , too, in hyunjin’s case. 

seungmin and jeongin had of course taken the opportunity to make fun of their friend for becoming so pretty, and joking about him leaving the two of them behind to become one of the popular and pretty boys, always having a girlfriend or boyfriend, but hyunjin had immediately told them he would _never_ leave them behind, not in a million years.

and hyunjin wasn’t that popular in their school. yeah, people thought he was pretty, but hyunjin had always been kind of pretty, and he had also always been kind of shy and reserved when it came to talking to strangers. 

he had told jeongin and seungmin once that he was jealous of the way they could speak to everyone and make friends so easily. when jeongin had offered him to introduce hyunjin to some people to make things easier for him, hyunjin had declined and said he didn’t necessarily need to have many friends as long as he had him and seungmin.

seungmin also wasn’t that popular, the three of them didn’t really stand out that much. they knew a lot of people, but they weren’t known for anything in particular. seungmin got good grades, but not because he was amazingly smart, but rather because he was incredibly diligent and worked hard. jeongin kind of envied him for that, he felt like he didn’t get good grades no matter how hard he worked, but seungmin had helped him realize that there was nothing wrong with not being good at school.

hyunjin also was a really hard worker, he was especially good at sports, (another thing jeongin wasn’t particularly good at,) but he also joined all kinds of non sport-related competitions, like math olympiads and stuff. it made jeongin shiver just _thinking_ about that, but he was proud of his friends and their amazing mindsets.

he was also glad to know that hyunjin and seungmin would support him in anything he wanted to try, like that time when he was nervous to enter a trot singing competition because the average age of contestants was three times his own age, but seungmin and hyunjin entered him anyway, and they were the loudest ones in the audience, even if jeongin didn’t win. 

long story short, the three of them had been through thick and thin, (jeongin had way too many stories to think about right now, also with their other friends,) and they had become inseparable. and so the story of how jeongin had managed to get himself in between his best friends, helping them both with asking each other out for the end of the year party, was not a surprising one.

seungmin had called jeongin one night, his voice shaky and scared because he had just realized he had feelings for hyunjin in the shower. jeongin and hyunjin had joined seungmin to baseball practice and they had joined a last game for fun, where the three of them had gotten so dirty that jeongin had had to shower for a good forty minutes before he was completely clean.

apparently seungmin had realized his feelings for hyunjin that evening and he was _scared_. little did he know that jeongin already had a hunch that seungmin might have feelings for hyunjin and his hunch also told him that hyunjin might return those feelings, even if he didn’t know that himself yet. jeongin had seen the way his two best friends looked at each other had changed in the most subtle of ways over time, but he noticed.

he had noticed the way their gazes lingered a little longer when the other wasn’t looking, the way hyunjin’s face got just a little bit redder when he would lay his head on seungmin’s shoulder than when he would lay his head on jeongin’s shoulder. the way seungmin just didn’t seem to get upset at _anything_ hyunjin did, and would spoil him in subtle ways. 

jeongin knew that seungmin treated everyone differently, he treated everyone according to how he thought that person wanted to be treated, but seungmin definitely had a soft spot for hyunjin. 

and so there jeongin was, consoling seungmin about his realization, telling him that it would be fine, because they had been through worse than someone having a crush on their best friend. jeongin reminded seungmin of that time they had prepared a song to perform at one of the school’s parties together with jisung, but they had ruined all of their voices laughing and practicing with each other the night before. 

they still performed, because _how bad could it be?_ but it was definitely _bad_ . hyunjin had tried to assure them it wasn’t _awful_ , but jeongin and seungmin could tell he was lying. 

they had ended up reminiscing stupid and awkward memories together until their mothers were urging them to go to bed because it was a _school night_ . seungmin seemed pretty calm about it the next day, so jeongin didn’t bring it up again, but he was inevitably reminded of it when hyunjin had come to jeongin not even two weeks later, dramatically telling him he had done the _“thing unheard of between best friends”_ , aka develop feelings for seungmin.

and so jeongin went through the whole consoling routine again, although it was different with hyunjin, because seungmin and hyunjin were inherently different. he hoped he was doing a good job, because seungmin was better at consoling people, especially hyunjin, but jeongin just did what he thought seungmin would do.

and that’s how he got tangled in the mess of helping his two best friends with their feelings for each other, even though they were painfully oblivious to each other’s feelings and it was pretty tiring to keep repeating himself to his friends separately. oh the things jeongin did for his friends, he should honestly get a medal or something. 

the endless pining should be over soon, though, because they were _finally_ going to ask each other out. it almost gave jeongin butterflies thinking about it, but only almost, because even though he loved his friends more than anything, he didn’t like them in _that way_. he was just looking forward to them being able to talk about everything together again.

~

today was the day hyunjin and seungmin would ask each other to the party. jeongin was eager to see who would ask the other first. his bet was on hyunjin, because hyunjin had a more indirect way of breaking the question planned, while seungmin had just planned on plain on asking him. 

speaking of seungmin, the guy looked nervous from the moment jeongin met up with him in the morning to cycle to school together. when hyunjin arrived he had noticed it too and he asked seungmin about it, but seungmin waved it off, telling him he just hadn’t slept very long.

jeongin’s first class was with seungmin and felix, and seungmin had been nervously tapping his pencil on his desk since the beginning. 

“min! stop that!” jeongin slapped his friend’s pencil out of his hand, with a little too much force, because it flew out of seungmin’s hands and against the back of felix’s head. 

“ow!” felix flinched, before picking up the pencil and turning around to give it back. “what’s going on?” 

“nothing.” seungmin immediately snatched the pencil.

“seungmin is nervous to ask his crush out to the party.” jeongin answered, earning a glare from seungmin. felix nodded knowingly.

“ah, he’s nervous to ask hyunjin out.” he pressed his lips together in understanding. “good luck, bro. you can do it.” 

seungmin let out a sigh. “thanks, lix… i don’t know if i can do it, though.”

“wait, why not?” jeongin frowned. _not this again! why is he scared again all of a sudden?_ “i thought you would ask him today!”

“i know i said that, but i’m still… what if— what if i should have prepared something! like, at least something sweet to say?” seungmin whispered, his eyebrows drawn together in worry.

“don’t worry about it!” jeongin placed a hand on seungmin’s shoulder. “you’ll be fine. even if you don't ask him at school, we're going to hyunjin’s place after, so you'll have another chance.” 

seungmin sighed and didn’t say anything back, so jeongin let it be for now. he would love for his friend to get the courage to ask hyunjin out, but he also knew that seungmin could be stubborn, so he trusted hyunjin and himself to make sure hyunjin's plan would go through no matter what. 

during the break, however, hyunjin pulled jeongin into the bathroom with him, and looked at him with a panicked expression. 

“jeongin, oh my gosh.” he took a hold of jeongin's shoulders. “seungmin has been out of it all day, he's, like, all distant and stuff. do you really think it is a good idea to ask him today?” 

jeongin sighed, time to reassure his other best friend. “yes! it'll cheer him up, i'm _sure_ about that.” 

“really?” hyunjin chewed on his lower lip unconsciously as he flicked his eyes all over the place in nervousness. 

“yes! i'm absolutely sure.” jeongin repeated, chuckling lightly and pulling hyunjin into a quick hug. “it'll be fine, hyunie. i'll be there with you.” 

“okay, yes, you're right. thank you.” hyunjin let out a breath and smiled. _that's better._

  
  


their trip to hyunjin’s house was uncharacteristically quiet, jeongin did his best to fill the silence with meaningless remarks about his day, but his friends weren't that responsive. he couldn't blame them, both of them were incredibly nervous about possibly losing one of their best friends. (although jeongin knew that was impossible, seungmin and hyunjin cared way too much about each other.)

once at home, everyone was a little more at ease and they naturally returned to their usual flow of bantering and joking around. when jeongin had seen both hyunjin and seungmin smile a couple of times, he thought it was time to get on with the plan. 

“i'm gonna take a piss for a sec, okay?” jeongin said before slipping out of the room and getting downstairs to get the flowers and ring the doorbell. 

“hyunjin! i think it's for you!” he yelled upstairs and a red faced hyunjin appeared in the stairway. he dashed down quickly.

“n—now?” he stammered as jeongin gestured to the bouquet of flowers hyunjin had bought and hidden this morning before school. 

“yes, when else?” jeongin raised his eyebrows at his friend before handing him the bouquet. “just give it to him. he'll like it.” 

hyunjin nodded shyly and they went upstairs again to hyunjin’s room where seungmin looked at the bouquet in awe for a second before his expression turned somewhat guilty. _just wait for it, minnie._

“you got flowers? how nice.” seungmin mustered his best smile, but jeongin saw the disappointment in his eyes. hyunjin approached him, hiding his red face behind the bouquet of daisies and other small and white flowers. 

“uhm, these are actually for _you_.” hyunjin stretched out his arms, offering the flowers to seungmin. the latter just looked at the former with a confused expression. 

“...me? but why…?” the boy murmured as he took the bouquet from hyunjin. 

“there's a note attached to it, your name is on it.” hyunjin told seungmin and he took a step back. 

“relax, hyunie.” jeongin whispered and he rubbed his friend's arm soothingly. he heard hyunjin take a deep breath and as jeongin retreated his arm, hyunjin chased it and he took jeongin's hand, squeezing it lightly. 

“read the note out loud, minnie. we wanna know who sent you those!” jeongin exclaimed as he pulled hyunjin on the bed next to seungmin by the hand. 

“okay. it probably is a prank anyway, like, who would send flowers for me to _hyunjin’s_ house?” seungmin chuckled awkwardly while searching for the note between the flowers.

“jesus, have a little faith in yourself, you ugly.” jeongin sighed and he felt hyunjin bump his shoulder, so he mumbled a quick apology. he was just getting a little impatient.

“okay, it says: _‘be my date to the party? from, hyunjin’_ —” seungmin abruptly stopped, his mouth still hanging open. hyunjin squeezed jeongin’s hand _hard_ as seungmin slowly looked up and into hyunjin’s eyes. 

hyunjin immediately let go of jeongin’s hand to hide his face behind his two hands. seungmin’s eyes were wide and his mouth was still hanging slightly open and he was silent as he stared at hyunjin in disbelief. hyunjin peeked through his fingers and his face became the colour of and actual tomato as seungmin stayed silent and just stared. 

jeongin sighed. _these two are actually useless. i’m not going to tell them to say something, i’ll just wait._

after about a minute, hyunjin finally lowered his hands. “minnie? what’s going on…? do you… what are you thinking?” he squeaked out.

seungmin blinked a couple of times before he slapped himself on the face. “ _ow_ ! okay. i’m not dreaming— uhh! i _mean_! i was just thinking— i—”

“just _say_ it, kim seungmin!” jeongin had told himself not to interfere, but he should have known better, he couldn’t watch this any longer.

“okay!” seungmin almost yelled, before he turned to hyunjin with a face matching hyunjin’s in colour. “yes! yes, hyunjin! i would like to be your date to the party!” 

“really?” hyunjin’s expression immediately brightened, a smile forming on his face, thank goodness. seungmin nodded, a small smile now also creeping up on his face. hyunjin jumped him, wrapping him in a tight hug and squeezing him. 

seungmin laughed heartily and jeongin took the opportunity to lie on top of hyunjin, finishing the pile. “finally!”

“you _knew_ about this?” seungmin exclaimed, still laughing. 

“yes, of _course_ i knew about this!” jeongin said. “who do you think i am?”

“well, then i think hyunjin can also know that i told you i was planning on asking _you_ to be my date for the party today.” seungmin said, trying to push the other two off of him. 

“what?! is that true?” hyunjin yelped as he rolled off of seungmin and right off the bed. 

“yes, of course. that’s why i was… kinda nervous today.” seungmin explained, helping hyunjin back onto the bed with a shy smile. 

“well, thank god we have jeongin, right?” hyunjin giggled and jeongin rolled his eyes. 

“yeah, ‘cause you two have become pretty useless without me.” he sighed. _but i would be just as useless without you two_ , jeongin thought, but he wouldn’t say it. 

“shut up!” seungmin grabbed a pillow to muffle jeongin with. hyunjin tried protecting him, but it was half-assed. it became a pillow fight, meaning seungmin and hyunjin probably would talk another time. 

  
  
  


“i'll call you later to make plans for the party, 'kay?” hyunjin smiled brightly to seungmin as they said goodbye to each other and seungmin's eyes were full of affection and anticipation as he nodded.

“talk to you later.”

~ 

the next day when the three of them met up to go to school together, hyunjin arrived at their meeting spot _before_ jeongin and the latter was met with the sight of his two friends subtly interlocking their fingers and talking to each other in soft voices. 

“woah, good morning.” jeongin greeted them while raising a curious eyebrow at hyunjin. “you're early.” 

“yeah, i was up all night talking and thinking about minnie.” his friend said with a little smile on his face. 

“yah, hyunjin…” seungmin pushed hyunjin away shyly as a light blush spread out on his face. jeongin rolled his eyes. 

“gross.” he grimaced exaggeratedly for a second before neutralizing his expression again. “anyway, what did i miss?” 

“oh, we just talked about our plans for the party and stuff.” seungmin shrugged casually. as if he wasn't going to continue. 

“yeah, so…?” jeongin said as seungmin actually didn't continue. “details?” 

“oh! sorry, i thought you didn't want to know.” his friend chuckled awkwardly. 

“of course i want to know! who do you think i am?” jeongin sighed and his friends laughed. 

“sorry, innie. of course. but first—let's get going.”

seungmin and hyunjin (especially hyunjin) told jeongin eagerly about everything they talked about and were looking forward to after they got used to talking about each other in a more… romantic sense than usual. jeongin understood it was a little unusual for them at first, to gush about the other in front of them, but he hoped that they wouldn't forget that they could tell him anything they also told each other and that how 'gross' jeongin might pretend to think it was, didn't matter. 

it was a weird day, though. seungmin and hyunjin were distracted by each other a lot and everyone was talking about their dates for the party or if they were still planning on asking someone. jeongin felt a bit left out, or like he was missing out on something. 

“so, jeongin, are you still planning on asking someone out?” changbin asked out of nowhere. or maybe not out of nowhere, maybe they had been talking about this for the whole break already, probably even, but jeongin hadn't really been paying attention. 

“no.” he answered simply, taking a bite out of his sandwich. 

“don't you want to go with someone?” chan asked him this. _no_ , was the first thing that came to mind. 

“yeah, like, i wasn't originally planning on asking channie to go with me, but i kinda wanted to go with someone and you know… i kinda liked the idea of going with chan, so i just asked him.” jisung said with a big smile. chan shyly rubbed his red ears between his fingertips. _gosh, my friends are being sickly sweet all of a sudden._

jeongin's first thoughts were that he didn't want to go with anyone, but maybe it _would_ be nice to have those sweet feelings his friends had for each other too. but who should he go with? he had absolutely no idea, there wasn't anyone coming to mind that he wanted to date or something, but he somehow felt like he had to want to go with someone. because that was what everyone wanted, right? 

“i don't know. i don't think i want to bring a date to the party.” he said. but that didn't mean he had to be lonely, right? he had his friends to dance with. right? or should he try to score a date last minute…? 

“that’s valid.” felix mused, but jeongin didn’t really feel better. chan and jisung and seungmin and hyunjin looked really happy to go together. _it is what it is_ , he guessed he didn't have anyone he wanted to go with, so whatever. and, even if it seemed desirable to have a date for the party by looking at his friends, imagining himself actually bring a date made him feel icky. like, what kind of stuff was he supposed to do that he couldn't just as well do with his friends? ( _kiss? meh, dancing sounds way more fun._ ) 

~

“do you guys have any plans for this weekend?” jeongin asked seungmin and hyunjin as they were biking home, but he was ignored. they were too busy giggling together about something that jeongin hadn't heard. 

“uhm, hello?” he said a tad more loudly, getting his friends' attention. he raised an eyebrow at them, feeling more annoyed than he probably should, because he guessed it made sense for them to be all lovey-dovey during the beginning stages of what probably would become a relationship. “sorry, am i interrupting something?” 

“no, why? did you say something?” hyunjin blinked innocently at him. 

“i asked you guys if you had any plans for this weekend.” he said flatly.

“yeah! we were just talking about going shopping for the party this weekend. do you want to come with us?” seungmin offered. 

“hmm… i kinda don't wanna be third wheeling, though.” jeongin wanted to come, but he didn't want his friends to feel obligated to bring him along with them if this was like a date or something. he'd rather stay at home and be bored than be ignored by his friends because they would be acting all couple-y. 

“you won't be!” hyunjin pouted. “we aren't third wheeling you right now, right?” 

“only a little. you guys have just been— _distracted_ by each other lately.” jeongin explained. “but it's fine, you guys can have your 'couple time'. i understand.” 

seungmin frowned a little in concern and jeongin sighed. “it's _really_ fine! i just want you guys to tell me everything after, if you guys are comfortable with that. i mean, it's nice to share your happiness, right?” 

“yeah, but we can also do that if you go with us.” hyunjin said. “we invited you.” 

“okay, i'll come with you, since you're insisting.” jeongin smiled sheepishly and hyunjin whooped softly, while seungmin's frown disappeared. he could see that seungmin was still thinking about something, though, but he didn't say anything. if it was important to jeongin, seungmin would say it eventually. 

maybe jeongin would even find out soon? 

~

**hyun min in ie**

**minnie :** innie

**innie :** what

**minnie :** you arent going together w anyone to the party right 

**innie :** way to rub my lack of Love Life into my face ://

**hyunie :** but u didnt want to go w anyone Right? 

**minnie :** yeah since when do you care about that kind of stuff 

**innie :** since all of my friends seem to be having a great time without me 😶

**hyunie :** nooo!!! >:((

**innie :** im kidding dont worry ur pretty lil head about me hyunie :] 

**minnie :** anyway i was just asking in case you wanted to bring someone to go shopping with us this weekend 

**innie :** even if i would want that

 **innie :** you guys >>>>> the rest of the world 

**hyunie :** 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

**minnie :** okay nice then it'll just be us three ^^ 

**innie :** are u guys gonna match btw?

**hyunie :** 👀👀👀

**innie :** i assume that is a Yes for hyunjin

**minnie :** yeah sure

 **minnie :** btw are we going to meet @ hyunjins place before 

**innie :** sure

 **innie :** we can also meet at mine

 **innie :** but hyunjins is fine too

**hyunie :** yeah lets do mine ^^

 **hyunie :** cuz thats where i asked minnie to be my date to the party ^^

**innie :** of course :p

**minnie :** 😌😌

~

_“jeongin! are you on your way?”_ hyunjin exclaimed through his phone. jeongin sighed, his friends were always so impatient. he guessed seungmin was already there, because of course he was.

“yeah i am. almost there.” he told him and he heard hyunjin inhale sharply. “huh? you didn't expect me to be almost there?” 

“no!” hyunjin immediately denied. _okay? are they doing something, like, having a make out session and they aren't done yet? no, that's ridiculous,_ they _called_ me. 

“minnie jabbed me in the stomach out of nowhere.” hyunjin chuckled. that sounded very plausible, but something about hyunjin's voice made jeongin think he was lying. 

“anyway, i'm here, so see you guys in two seconds.” jeongin announced and hyunjin immediately hung up. and indeed, two seconds later hyunjin came running out of his house to greet him, followed by seungmin who was taking his sweet time walking over to them. 

hyunjin tackled him into a tight hug and suddenly seungmin was there to join. 

“so much affection all of a sudden.” jeongin laughed as he pulled out of the spontaneous group hug. he felt warm, though, knowing his friends were waiting for him and not wanting him to stay away longer so they could have more alone time. 

“what do you mean all of a sudden? hyunjin is always clingy.” seungmin snickered softly. 

“yes i know, but i _just_ arrived.” he said as they walked in and jeongin followed his friends upstairs, apparently they weren't going to leave to go to the mall right away. 

hyunjin had some clothes lying on his bed. they had probably already started looking at what he had and what kind of style they should go for in advance. hyunjin began telling him about their progress so far and the summary was that they couldn’t even decide on a colour scheme or a style.

“ _you two_ couldn’t decide?” jeongin raised an incredulous eyebrow at his friends. they always worked and talked together so well, and seungmin was someone who could make a decision for hyunjin if he was indecisive. “ _seungminnie_ couldn’t decide? or did you disagree?”

“i couldn’t decide.” seungmin shrugged. “hyunjin looks good in a lot and i don’t look good in a lot—” 

“ _hey!_ ” hyunjin and jeongin simultaneously exclaimed. jeongin pointed a stern finger at his friend. “ _i_ am the only one who is allowed to call you ugly, okay? we do not allow serious self depreciation in here. you are the one who set up that rule.”

seungmin pressed his lips together. “okay. sorry. the point is that you are better at fashion than i am, so we waited for you until we made a plan.” 

“okay. let me take a look at what you guys got here.” jeongin rubbed his hands together with a small smile on his face and he heard his friends snicker behind him. he then turned around to his friends. “but you guys gotta help me out a little.” 

“what about we match with _you_?” hyunjin grinned widely, his eyes crinkling cutely. jeongin barked out a laugh. 

“that kind of defeats the purpose of you two going as a couple, doesn't it?” he shook his head a little. he'd love to match with his friends, they had matching rings already and jeongin basically never took it off, but he didn't want to force himself into his friends' love life and ruin their romance or something. 

“maybe it does, but it makes it easier for us to decide on a style, right?” seungmin shrugged again. _don't they want this to be special for the two of them?_ seungmin then stood up. “well, i'm going to head to the bathroom for a sec.” 

“have fun.” jeongin offered before turning to hyunjin, who had a suspiciously bright smile still on his face. _right, he's probably still swooning over minnie. uselessly infatuated by each other._

he cleared his throat, getting hyunjin's attention. “so, what about you two go black and white with, like, an accent colour?” 

“that could be good. i don't know what colour seungmin likes on himself, but you—” hyunjin was interrupted by the doorbell ringing and he jumped, clutching his chest dramatically. jeongin snickered and went over to the window to see if he could see who was at the door, but he didn't see anyone. 

_“hyunjin! it's for you!”_ seungmin called from downstairs, because of course he went to open the door. _wait— this seems a bit familiar… doesn't it?_

“okay! just a sec.” hyunjin called back before quickly leaving the room and getting downstairs. jeongin frowned a bit, _they were acting kind of suspicious today, but what could they be planning? i don't get it._

a minute later hyunjin and seungmin appeared again and hyunjin was carrying a small bouquet of soft pink little flowers. 

“flowers?” jeongin grinned. “are they from minnie? did he take inspiration from your way of asking him out? it's a pretty bouquet, by the way. the colours are very pretty.” 

“it's actually for _you_.” hyunjin held out the flowers to jeongin and jeongin got major déjà vu. “there's a card with your name on it.” 

“oh my god. what is this? what are you two doing? i— i don't—” he stammered, somehow afraid to take the bouquet. “i _love_ you guys, i really do, but not— not in the way you guys like each other.” 

“just _take it_ , innie!” seungmin sighed and pushed the flowers into jeongins hands. “and read the message out loud, we wanna know too.” 

_pfft, as if they don't already know what's on it_ , he thought as he searched for the card between the pretty flowers and took it out to read. _'to: yang jeongin'_ it said on the front. he turned it around and cleared his throat. 

“it says _'be our platonic date to the party? from: hyunie and minnie'_ ...” he trailed off and raised his eyes to his friends' anticipating expressions. _platonic date? but…_

“i— i don't understand.” he stammered, flicking his eyes back and forth between the card and his best friends. he was kind of pinching the card between his fingers. 

“can't you read?” hyunjin teased him, but jeongin glared at him, he wasn't in the mood for teasing right now. 

“i can read— i just— _why_ ?” that was the most important question. _why?_ he scowled. “i don't want to be a third wheel to your actual date.” 

“do you really think we’d ask you all extra and formally like this if we were just going to let you be a third wheel?” seungmin raised an eyebrow at him. he was right, this wasn’t something seungmin would normally do, but that’s why jeongin didn’t understand.

“but… what about your date? the party— if i join you two, won’t that ruin your whole special thing?” jeongin really didn’t want to end up third wheeling anyway, because this party would be kind of special to hyunjin and seungmin, since it would be their first date.

“that’s right, but you kind of seemed like you were bummed out that you didn’t have anyone to go with but we did.” hyunjin stepped a little closer to jeongin. “you said you didn’t want to ask someone out on a date, so we thought we’d ask you to be our platonic date! because we love you. and we don’t want you to feel like we’re giving up on you just because we like each other romantically.” 

“what…?” jeongin felt his eyes begin to sting for some reason. he looked down at his lap as he fidgeted with his ring, feeling a bit shy all of a sudden. “you don’t have to do that, though. as much as i appreciate it, i— you guys don’t have to involve me in everything. i don’t want to ruin the romance.” 

“you say that as if we won’t have more fun dancing with you. hyunjin and i have plenty of time to integrate romance into our relationship, we don’t have to rush.” seungmin assured him. “the last thing we want is for you to feel like we are valuing our relationship above our friendship with you.”

“but you guys have been pining for _so long_. do you really want to wait longer?” 

“ _jeongin._ ” hyunjin took jeongin’s hands in his own. “we asked you a simple question. do you want to go with us or not? we would really like it if you did, because everything is more fun with the three of us, i _mean_ , who do you think you are? but it’s your choice.” 

jeongin pressed his lips together. he certainly hadn’t expected _this_ to happen. he didn’t realize that his friends had noticed how he felt about the whole party and date thing. they knew him so well and for some _stupid reason_ it made him feel like crying his eyes out. 

hyunjin let out a giggle and let go of jeongin’s hands and hugged him instead, running a hand through his hair soothingly. seungmin joined the hug and it really didn’t help jeongin’s case, a couple of teardrops not falling onto his cheeks.

“why are you crying, you stupid?” seungmin spoke into jeongin’s shoulder. his breath tickled his neck.

“because— because you guys just— i hate you.” he murmured and seungmin laughed. “why do you guys know me this well? what am i ever going to do without you? you guys spoil me too much.”

“now you know how i feel!” hyunjin squeezed them tighter. 

they stayed like that for a while, as long as hyunjin and seungmin didn’t move too much, it wouldn’t tickle jeongin and so it was fine to just hug. that way jeongin got some time to let everything sink in and accept that this was what his friends wanted too, so he wouldn’t have to feel guilty about accepting. 

eventually it was hyunjin who pulled out of the hug first, complaining that he was getting sweaty. they laughed and decided to just go shopping right away and skip the planning part. a warm feeling bloomed in jeongin’s chest as they tried on a ton of matching outfits and as hyunjin kept complimenting how nice the both of them looked in everything.

he didn’t even feel left out as he watched hyunjin and seungmin get lost while looking at each other every once in a while, he only felt proud that he helped them get this far and that they weren’t holding back just because he was there. hyunjin even tried to kiss seungmin (twice), but seungmin protested while being very red-faced, _“not here! we can’t just have our first kiss in a clothing store!”_

“i can’t help it, minnie.” hyunjin apologized with that smile that made his eyes crinkle. “you just look so pretty~”

“stop it!” seungmin hid his face behind his hands and hyunjin and jeongin laughed.

“i think he likes being called ugly better, hyunie.” jeongin smirked.

“i guess i can’t compete.” hyunjin shrugged with a fond smile on his face. 

he was right, he couldn’t compete, because there was never a competition to begin with, jeongin realized. hyunjin and seungmin both valued their friendship as much as they valued any other kind of relationship between them. they didn’t have to choose between friendship or romance, they could have both and they _wanted_ to have both.

jeongin was suddenly looking forward to the party a lot more than a couple of hours ago, because he would be spending it with the two people he cared about the most and they wanted to spend it with _him_ too, because _of course_ they did. who did they think jeongin is?

they weren’t best friends for nothing and jeongin shouldn’t have doubted them, but that was easy to say in hindsight. it was no use dwelling on those insecurities now, because they had outfits to match, but most importantly they had a lot of time to spend together and a lot of memories yet to make, and jeongin was sure they would all do it with the three of them.

  
  


  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bonus chapter yay!!

they weren't really sure how it happened, but somehow seungmin had wound up frozen with his face mere centimeters away from hyunjin's. both of their faces were pink as they looked each other in the eyes and jeongin was trying to stifle his laughter. 

they were preparing for the end of the year slash graduation party together with the three of them and hyunjin had managed to convince jeongin and seungmin to let him try to do their makeup. jeongin's makeup was already done and he liked it, hyunjin had done a great job considering that jeongin thought that he had a pretty difficult eye shape to work with. 

seungmin was next and hyunjin had pulled out a stick of mascara out of nowhere, scaring the life out of seungmin. hyunjin had pulled his best puppy eyes and asked if he could try putting mascara on him, but seungmin had declined with a scowl (it was very hard to ignore hyunjin's stupid cute face and puppy eyes). 

hyunjin didn't give up, though, and while leaning over the younger to try to put on mascara, seungmin resisted and the chair (together with hyunjin and seungmin) toppled over, causing hyunjin to accidentally smear mascara all over seungmin's face. all three of them couldn't stop laughing at seungmin’s face, but hyunjin still apologized and gently cleaned seungmin's face after about ten minutes of laughing. 

hyunjin took cleaning seungmin's face as an opportunity to inspect it up close, because of course he did. he sighed and complained about how unfairly cute seungmin was. it was honestly quite funny how red those kinds of compliments could make seungmin when hyunjin was so close to him. 

hyunjin snickered and went back to cleaning up the mess of mascara on seungmin’s face with a fond smile, while seungmin tried to distract himself by looking over to jeongin, but he scowled at jeongin's knowing grin and looked back at hyunjin, instead distracting himself with his pretty face. 

a slight pink dusted hyunjin and seungmin's cheeks as hyunjin suddenly whispered how pretty seungmin was. jeongin wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear and see all of that anymore, because their faces were suddenly mere centimeters apart. jeongin remembered seungmin's earlier protests about hyunjin wanting to kiss him at random times, but he wasn't complaining now. 

when seungmin moved closer and their lips softly brushed jeongin quickly looked away. _i definitely probably wasn't supposed to see that_ , he thought. he also really had to stop himself from making any disturbing sounds, because however much he wanted to be annoying to his friends right now, he should really let them have their moment. 

hyunjin had honestly expected him and seungmin to have their first kiss at the party or something, _not_ in hyunjin's bedroom as he was cleaning seungmin's face after ruining it with mascara. he definitely wasn't complaining, though, when seungmin leaned forward and connected their lips in a soft and hesitant kiss. hyunjin threw the wipe he had in his hands away to cup seungmin's cheeks and properly (try to) kiss him back. 

hyunjin's legs were getting dangerously weak and he was already out of breath as he pulled back and remembered that jeongin was there with them. “sorry, innie.” he apologized with a chuckle that still sounded awfully out of breath.

“it’s okay, just tell me to look away and i’ll let you guys do your thing.” jeongin still wasn’t looking, keeping his hand in front of his eyes. seungmin and hyunjin snickered at the younger. 

“you can look now, it’s okay.” seungmin assured him.

“yeah? you guys sure?” jeongin asked as he hesitantly lowered his hand and looked at his two friends. he completely lowered it when he saw that hyunjin was getting back his makeup supplies to continue with seungmin’s face. “how was it, then? is kissing nice?”

“yes.” “yeah, definitely.” seungmin and hyunjin said simultaneously, all three of them snickering after. jeongin was kind of curious about what it was like to kiss someone, but he was also kind of not curious enough to want to try it with someone that he knew right now. 

“hyunjin’s lips are really soft.” seungmin added while looking at jeongin and not at hyunjin, who _was_ looking at seungmin with such a warm and sweet look that jeongin almost got tooth decay from it.

“seungminnie just makes me feel warm in general, but kissing him makes me feel even warmer.” hyunjin said and jeongin rolled his eyes while seungmin let out an embarrassed whimper. _hyunjin won’t have to apply any blush if he keeps going._

“you’re exaggerating!” he accused his friend, even though his words were at least as sweet as his look had been earlier.

“am not!” hyunjin retorted.

“just do my makeup, hyunjin.” seungmin pulled a little at hyunjin’s sleeve to get his attention back to him.

  
  


* * *

  
  


at the party, they first met up with their other friends, commenting on each other’s outfits and stuff. chan and jisung were also wearing matching suits and they even showed off their matching earring. 

“i can’t believe that you three one upped us with your triple matching outfits!” jisung exclaimed, pouting as chan laughed heartily.

“they two upped us not-matching ones…” felix sighed in defeat.

“yeah, get rekt!” hyunjin smiled smugly at the shorter two.

“what’s the big deal about matching, though.” minho scoffed. “i’m my own person. i don’t need to match with a date.”

“i’m just their platonic date, though.” jeongin clarified. 

“that doesn’t mean you’re less, innie!” changbin scolded him and jeongin smiled sheepishly. “matching is matching. that doesn’t discriminate.” 

“yeah, i know.” 

“i think it’s really sweet, though.” jisung said, more seriously. “you guys care a lot about each other and make sure that jeongin doesn’t feel like he’s less important to you now that you two are together!” 

“exactly.” seungmin agreed. 

“i know and i agree! let’s go dance now!” jeongin urged their friends onto the dance floor to get the attention off of himself. he was really flattered, but all of this attention was making him kind of shy. 

dancing and joking around with all of his friends made him forget about that again and he just enjoyed himself without care. they sang along with every song they knew, showed off their non-existent dance skills (unless your name was minho) to each other. at one point, chan even lifted up jisung to spin him around while the younger yelled in slight fear, but probably also amusement, until chan put him down before he would fall over from laughing.

that made everyone want to try to lift someone up, and jisung and felix being the lighter and shorter ones in their friend group made them the most favoured target, but jeongin was also lifted by minho, hyunjin and seungmin at one point, despite his protests. seungmin even managed to lift hyunjin (he was generally too tall for the others) with his baseball arms and jeongin could see that hyunjin’s face was bright red even in the faint light of their school’s gym.

they kept dancing until eventually the slower songs started playing and the only ones left on the dancefloor were the couples who were slow dancing and friends who were just spinning each other around for some more fun.

“do you want to dance with us, innie?” hyunjin offered, holding out his free hand, the other being occupied holding seungmin’s hand.

“nah, my legs are getting kinda tired, so i’ll just play _‘spot the couple’_ with felix and maybe tease chan and jisung with minho and changbin or something.” jeongin waved his hand at his friend. “you guys have fun. i’ve had a lot of fun already tonight, mostly thanks to you two, so thank you.” 

hyunjin and seungmin smiled at him and went to the dance floor before taking each other into their arms. 

“have fun kissing!” jeongin called at them for good measure before he joined minho, changbin and felix on the bleachers.

“shut up!” seungmin called back and minho held his hand up for jeongin to high five.

“channie! sungie! are you two going to kiss, too, or not?!” changbin called out immediately as the two had started slow dancing. “seungmin and hyunjin have been at it for minutes already!” 

“not true!” hyunjin called back.

“let’s ignore those guys, channie!” jisung said, loudly enough for everyone on the bleachers to hear as well, as he pulled chan closer to him and turned his back to the bleachers. chan peaked over jisung’s shoulder at his friends and smirked before he placed a kiss on jisung’s cheek and started ignoring them again.

“they are totally going to kiss later, wanna bet?” felix grinned at the rest.

“no, because then i’m going to lose.” minho answered. “i’ve been listening to jisung plan his first kiss with chan for too long, so they’re definitely going to do it tonight, even though i’m sure that it won’t go exactly as he planned.” 

“wait, really?” changbin turned to minho with wide eyes. “chan was whining to me about wanting to kiss jisung tonight but he wasn’t sure if jisung wanted him to until i reminded him of the fact that jisung had asked _him_ to go with him to the party.”

“useless. both of them.” jeongin shook his head. romance really made people useless. “seungmin and hyunjin had their first kiss after hyunjin had accidentally smeared mascara all over seungmin’s face, so yeah, things like that usually don’t go as planned.” 

“really?!” felix almost yelled and jeongin snickered. he told his friends the story and before he knew it, the conversation flowed on it’s own again and they talked about everything and nothing, while seungmin and hyunjin were softly kissing on the dance floor and chan and jisung just nosed each other until chan closed the gap in a rush of confidence, ruining jisung’s plans, but jisung definitely didn’t mind.

it wasn’t as bad as jeongin had expected, to watch his friends, but most importantly hyunjin and seungmin dance and kiss, and he didn’t feel left out at all and he found himself not really wishing that he had someone to dance with either. those weren’t really concerns for him anymore, so he guessed that his friends had done a good job at making him feel loved enough.

he was definitely not going to stop teasing them about their romance, though. never.

  
  


_the end._

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading this short bonus chapter, i hope you guys enjoyed it and sorry it took me so long ahah!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! ^^ i hope you guys liked it, i am working hard on more things! but i already have lots of other fics so if u wanna check them out haha ;))) 
> 
> ANYWAYS! kudos and comments are appreciated.  
> have a nice day, stay safe and healthy!! 
> 
> (you can find me on:  
> [Tumblr](https://skz-vla.tumblr.com)  
> And on [twitter](https://twitter.com/kersenvla) if you're interested!)<3


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